Unfinished Business
by nikscaroline
Summary: A collection of Klaroline one-shots. Canon for the most part.


**This events start from 5x11. Frankly, I expected more than what we got, from an emotional point of view. Most of the dialogue is rewritten. I tried to explore how both Klaus and Caroline felt during their encounter, all the while staying as true to the characters as possible. **

**Ok, enough said, enjoy!**

"Don't you have a dying girl to go punish for all of her sins?" Caroline asked Klaus, with more than a touch of censure in her voice, as they slowly walked through the woods. She would never admit it out loud, but the truth was she appreciated having Klaus by her side again. They hadn't interacted at all in weeks and… she couldn't in all honesty say that she hadn't felt the void left by his absence.

"I do." Klaus paused for emphasis before adding, "But I won't for you."

They simultaneously turned their heads towards one another and locked gazes, Caroline's disbelieving and Klaus' enamored. He had missed her 'I'm not buying what you're selling' look.

Caroline refrained from rolling her eyes and imperceptibly shook her head. His statement reminded her of a time when he spoke very similar words to her. _'Because of you, Caroline. It was all for you.'_

"Is everything you do for me?" She regretted the words as soon as she spoke them and cursed herself for her lack of control. Why the hell would she give him an opening to make yet another grand declaration?

"You'd be surprised." Klaus replied under his breath in such a low voice that Caroline would not have even heard him if it weren't for her acute vampire hearing.

It was truly amazing how a mysterious man such as Niklaus Mikaelson could be so transparent and candid when it came to expressing his affection for her. He didn't hide or shy away from his feelings for her-or even attempt to really -which was quite frankly rather refreshing for Caroline. She wasn't used to being pursued so openly and persistently.

She decided not to bounce back on his last comment. "So you came all the way to Mystic Falls just to back off when I ask you to…" Her disbelief at his peculiar logic was evident in her tone.

"No, I came all the way to Mystic Falls to gloat over a corpse-to-be, as you so poetically put it." He repeated her earlier words to her. "But I will leave, minus the gloating, in return for one small thing." He declared, finally catching Caroline's interest as she turned around to look at him.

"And what is that?"

"I want your confession." Klaus stated with calm and assurance.

"My… confession?" Caroline repeated, flustered. She shook her head, disconcerted, a timid smile on her face, and Klaus couldn't refrain the tight-lipped one that grew on his own face in response. "I didn't do anything. My confession about what?"

"Me." Klaus answered, causing the smile on Caroline's face to fall instantly. She stared at him intently as he went on. "As soon as we're done here, I'm going to walk away…" he paused to take an inaudible and unnecessary breath. It took every ounce of willpower within him to speak his next words, and it required more strength than he ever thought he possessed to mean them, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

Caroline was so young and so inexperienced, both literally and figuratively. Although Klaus was desperate to grasp that naïve innocence and hold on to it for dear life, it was probably the most selfish thing he would ever do, and Klaus just did not know how to be selfish with Caroline.

Furthermore, if he and she were ever to have a real chance at a future together, they both needed time away from one another so they could evolve as individuals first. Caroline needed to decide who she wanted to be, she needed to learn to make decisions in her best interests, for herself, not for her so-called friends or for anyone else. Three-fourths of her actions were only a result of her co-conspirators' manipulation, and Caroline was none the wiser about it. As for Klaus, he needed to find his way back to the young man he once was, the one who believed in beauty and art and the magic the world held. He needed to find his way back to Niklaus Mikaelson and manage to make him coexist with the feared big bad original hybrid he had to be in order to protect his family.

The irony was not lost on Klaus that he was about to let the only person who had ever inspired him to be better in over a thousand years go, perhaps forever…

"…And I'm never coming back." He stopped an instant to gauge Caroline's reaction. He could have sworn he perceived a flash of hurt in her light-blue green eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. "You'll never again have to look me in the eye and cover our connection with hostility and revulsion. You'll never have to loathe the darkest parts of yourself that care for me, in spite of all I've done."

Caroline took in a shaky breath. That was the thing about Klaus that she loved and hated with equal measure. He had this uncanny ability to see right through her, to capture her essence and speak to her soul. He could tell when she was being deceitful or less than completely truthful. Even those few times when she'd had to take one for the team and act the blonde distraction to steer Klaus away from whatever the Mystic Falls' legendary gang had going on at the time, Caroline had a feeling that Klaus was onto her and was just playing along so he could enjoy the pleasure of her company. He knew her way too well for comfort, and Caroline wasn't sure how the hell that ever happened. When had she ever let him in so deep that he got to know her almost better than she knew herself?

"We are much more similar than you realize, Caroline." Klaus said, eerily responding to her inner thoughts.

"Klaus, what is it that you want to hear from me?" she lifted her gaze to his to find him staring at her intently. "Stop beating around the bush and just say it."

"Nothing but the truth." Klaus coolly and unnecessarily responded. She knew full well all he ever wanted from her was honesty. Her candor was one of the qualities that Klaus valued most about Caroline, one that she never failed to exert with him as she set him straight and pointed out his shortcomings or called him out on his bull. When it came to expressing her positive feelings towards him, however, strangely, the lovely blonde was much more disinclined. Klaus wondered why.

Caroline briefly contemplated evading his request, but Klaus' open, pleading eyes boring into hers would not allow her to. Still, she did not want to disclose her true feelings for him to him. Hell, she refused to reveal their full extent to herself. "I guess you're not the person I despise the most on this earth."

Klaus tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at her, giving her a look. "Why, thank you." He said dryly, but the growing smirk at the corner of his lips indicated that he knew she was equivocating and did not hold it against her.

"You know I don't return your feelings."

"Maybe not…" He paused, not liking where she was taking the conversation. His feelings were not the matter at hand here. Those were firmly established. What he wanted was clarification about hers. "But you are not quite as repulsed by me as you would like everyone to believe."

"I just admitted that I don't completely hate you!" she refused to budge.

Klaus stared at Caroline for a moment. "You can do better than that." He prompted in an even voice with that trademark charming smirk of his, and Caroline defiantly held his haze, refusing to lose her composure.

She exhaled a loud sigh and ran a nervous hand through her perfect blonde curls. Klaus was very well aware of the fact that her antipathy towards him was nothing but a façade to mask how she truly felt about him; he had just called her out on it. He knew she cared much more than she ever let on.

"Okay, fine, I do care about you." She grudgingly admitted. "As, as a friend."

Klaus raised an eyebrow at Caroline's stammering and tried his best to contain a chuckle. His best was clearly not good enough, judging by Caroline's scowl and glare.

"I'm sorry did I say something funny?"

"No." He cleared his throat, getting rid of the mirth in his voice. "Not at all." His reply earned him a glare from the blonde.

"Just because I've admitted that…" she trailed off and averted her gaze from Klaus' piercing one. "I can't act on them." She said with less conviction than she would have liked.

"I wasn't asking you to." Klaus instantly retorted, defensive. "Or expecting you to. You're not ready -and it's probably for the best." Caroline frowned as he seemed to add the last bit for himself.

Caught off guard, she was unable to cover her disappointment before he noticed. Surprised by her reaction, he opened his mouth to speak, but she wouldn't let him "Caroline -"

"No, it's ok. It's ok. It makes sense. I mean you had this weird thing for me when you were living here, but now that you've moved back to New Orleans, gotten reacquainted with long lost friends, and fallen back into your old habits, you've had time to realize just how absurd this whole infatuation was." She shrugged. "I get it. We agree." Caroline wanted to slap herself for the emotion she could hear in her own voice. She couldn't care less that Klaus was gone and out of her life. As a matter of fact, it was all that she had been wishing for.

Klaus narrowed his eyes at her in a disbelieving look. "An infatuation?" he repeated, incredulous. "Your opinion of me keeps sinking, doesn't it?"

"Really?" Caroline arched an eyebrow at him. "Of everything I just said, that's all you picked up on?"

"That should tell you something."

She refrained a sigh and looked away before she replied, "Klaus, just because you made a few romantic declarations to me doesn't mean you are tied to me for the rest of your life." He really didn't owe her a thing, and she didn't want him to feel like he did.

Klaus frowned at her response. He was genuinely shocked by her words, not to mention profoundly hurt. After all the time that they had spent together, all the ways that he had let her in, often against his better judgment, he couldn't believe the extent to which she undervalued his heartfelt declarations to her. "You really have no idea, do you?"

"About what?" she lifted her gaze to his.

He let out a half-laugh half-huff and shook his head wordlessly, more disillusioned than he could express. This was not at all how he had envisioned the conversation going. Klaus obviously did not expect Caroline to fall into his arms and profess her eternal love for him, but he truly believed that they were past the doubts, the suspicions and the mistrust. Clearly, he was mistaken. "I guess I should get going. Thank you for your honesty."

His remark, laced with sarcasm and disappointment, stung Caroline more than any insult would have. He wore an impassive expression, but she knew him well enough to know that she had hurt his feelings. "Klaus, wait."

**Thank you for reading. If you liked it, please let me know. A part 2 should follow soon, assuming you want a part 2?**


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